Ancient Egypt
High School acceleration
April 25-26, 2013
When people hear Egypt, they
usually think of. . .
Timeline of Egyptian Kingdoms
3,000
BCE
2,500
BCE
Pre-Dynastic
? – 2,600 BCE
Old Kingdom
2600-2100 BCE
2,000
BCE
1,500
BCE
Middle Kingdom
2100-1567 BCE
1,000
BCE
New Kingdom
1567-1085 BC
Egyptian Milestones
• Pre-Dynastic
– Hieroglyphics (method of writing that used
pictures for words) developed
– Irrigation methods perfected by Mesopotamians
were brought to Nile River Valley
• Old Kingdom
– Pyramids and sphinx were built during this time
– Memphis was capital
– Kingdom was divided into upper and lower
Egyptian Milestones (cont.)
• Middle Kingdom
– Upper and Lower kingdoms reunited
– Economy and society grew with state-sponsored
building plans
– New irrigation and canal system introduced
– Religious center was Thebes
Egyptian Milestones (cont.)
• New Kingdom
– Some of most famous pharaohs ruled –
Tutankhamun (King Tut) and Ramses
– Egypt begins to lose power; Invaded by Kushites
and Assyrians
– Begins canal from Nile to Red Sea
– Economy prospers despite coming Persian
invasion
Egyptian Milestones (cont.)
– 525 B.C. Persian empire invades Egypt – King
Darius finishes canal and connects Egypt to rest of
Persian Empire
– 404 B.C. Egypt regains control from Persia
– 60 years later, Persia re-invades and ends native
rule of Egypt
– 332 B.C. – Alexander the Great invades Egypt. The
city of Alexandria is started a year later. The
famous library at Alexandria is built.
– 30 B.C. – The Roman Empire takes over Egypt.
What was a pharaoh?
• The pharaoh was the political and religious leader
of the Egyptian people,
• Had two title: 'Lord of the Two Lands' and 'High
Priest of Every Temple'.
• ‘Lord of the Two Lands' meant he was the ruler of
Upper and Lower Egypt. He owned all of the land,
made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt
against foreigners.
• As 'High Priest of Every Temple', the pharaoh
represented the gods on Earth. He performed
rituals and built temples to honor the gods.
Egyptian Religion
• Polytheistic
• Most important god – Ra – the sun god/father
of mankind
• Anubis – God of the dead – embalmers would
wear a jackal mask to represent Anubis
• Osiris – God of the afterlife
• Isis – Queen of the gods; sister-wife of Osiris
Egyptian social classes
•
•
•
•
Pharaoh – Ruler
Royal Officials – scribes, priests, nobles
Middle Class – merchants
Working Class – farmers, craftspeople in
workshops, fishermen, boat builders, house
workers
• Slaves and Servants – worked for any class
above them
Egyptian Lifestyle
• Men and women treated equally and had
equal rights
• People could move from one social class to
another
• Education was based more on wealth than
gender; school trained you for a skill
• Plenty of vegetables were grown; grains
ground into flour for bread; animals kept for
meat